


Arts of Escapology

by kindkit



Category: Colditz (1972)
Genre: Ficlet, Gen, M/M, Prison Sex, Prisoner of War, World War II
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-13
Updated: 2011-06-13
Packaged: 2017-10-20 09:10:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/211122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kindkit/pseuds/kindkit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pat notices things others don't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Arts of Escapology

Pat notices details that other men miss. He holds them in his memory, compares them, reckons them up, draws conclusions. It's what made him a good engineer.

Here in Colditz he applies his talent to plans, maps, hiding places, and the forged papers he checks for flaws. And sometimes it applies itself when he doesn't mean to use it.

Tim and Peter, Pat sees, have drawn as tightly together as two halves of a walnut. They pool their cigarette rations and sometimes wear each other's mufflers or gloves. They read each other's letters and talk about their families. When they touch accidentally, at meals or in corridors, they don't apologize.

George and Dick hardly talk together at all, but after dinner a couple of times a week they both disappear for half an hour. George is less nervy afterwards, and later he sleeps instead of wandering.

Phil watches Dick sometimes when he's changing or bathing. So do others, more discreetly. There's even a German corporal who smiles at him.

Pat keeps an eye out for problems, for jealousies.

He's an old-fashioned chap really, not bohemian, but he's here in Colditz too and he knows loneliness. What he's noticed and surmised is not his business to obstruct, so long as there's no trouble. Once he covered for Dick when Colonel Preston picked a bad moment for a meeting.

Pat is, after all, the Escape Officer; he takes his remit broadly. Whatever kind of escape is needed, he's not unwilling to help.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Lessons](https://archiveofourown.org/works/372699) by [halotolerant](https://archiveofourown.org/users/halotolerant/pseuds/halotolerant)




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